I don’t have a whole lot to say today, at least not right now. Actually, that’s not true – I have a whole lot that I want to say, but I haven’t gotten the clarity I need to figure out what I should say, when I should say it, and how I should say it.
If you’re new to blogging, you probably know how this feels. If you’ve been blogging for a while, maybe you do, too.
The truth of it is that blogging is just like anything else – the more you do it, the easier it is to do. The further you get away from it, the harder it is to get going again. Habits have inertia just like projects do.
But it’s more than just the habit, really. I haven’t posted much this month because I was either in the middle of moving or distilling all of the ideas I wanted to include in the Unconventional Guide or working with clients. In retrospect, I’ve given myself a “pass” at treading water, but, if I’m more truthful and charitable, my treading water is completely relative to how prolific I normally am. I didn’t post three times a week, sure, but I hosted calls, conversations, developed programs and products, rewrote sales pages, and a whole slew of other business tending activities while living in a temporary apartment and moving 2,000 miles across the country.
All that said, I’ve still gotten out of the habit of sharing ideas with you publicly, and rather than wait for the habit and opportunity to strike, I’m approaching the horse today.
It’s true that it’s the middle of summer and readers aren’t as engaged. It’s also true that I should probably write something high impact that makes sure to keep the signal to noise ratio high.
But the most important and relevant truth here is that the longer I avoid hitting the publish button, the harder it will be to do so.
Sometimes we write for ourselves. Other times we write for other people. This time, I’m writing just to write.
As I’ve said before, every post can’t be a masterpiece, especially when you’re out of practice. Maybe tomorrow, maybe next time, or maybe soon – but today’s post is more about me showing up for all of us.
If you’ve fallen down on your craft here lately, I hope this will encourage you to stand up today. We find our excellence not in never falling, but standing up after we’ve taken our inevitable stumble.
p.s. Yes, it feels good to be back.
So true! Thanks for the encouragement!
You’re welcome!
Moving cross country has a way of getting people out of rhythm, so don’t be too hard on yourself. Glad to have you back!
Yeah, I try to keep that in perspective. It’s not like we moved down the street.
Welcome back Charlie! You deserved a break with all that’s going on in your life 🙂
Yep, many of us have been there, done that and sometimes, for WAY longer that we needed. It’s a delicate balance between time off and getting back on the horse but you’ve managed it well with having guest posters & keeping everyone in the loop.
Glad to have the Gilkey Way back though! Woohoo! @TiaSparkles
I probably need to write about the Gilkey Way. Or maybe I should ask Andrea to? ;p Thanks for being part of this wild ride, Tia.
Hey Charlie,
At least your are still alive, lol.
I’m writing now every single day in order to keep the momentum. Shift your focus and become writy again. I know you can do it.
Yeah, I…oh, I’m still alive. ( http://tinysong.com/76DS )
I have been writing. It’s just where it’s going. And I’m really looking forward to staying home for a while – I haven’t had some sustained creative momentum for longer than 6 weeks since last November.
Hi Charlie, welcome back. I can relate to this because sometimes I go through those ruts where I don’t post as much as I would like to. I remember back in March I was posting once a week! It’s good to have you back though. Looking forward to your new posts!
Thanks, Hulbert! Once a week was my goal throughout this, and I think I made it.
I feel you on this one. I just started posting again after a loooong lay off.
new to your site but I read that you are a “polymath” which leads me to believe that you were probably doing some cool activities while you were away from writing.
looking forward to reading your upcoming posts!
~Mike
I was. Most of my creative time went to the Unconventional Guide that’s coming out tomorrow, so it’s not like I was just sitting there. The good news is that there are two core concepts from that product that will become pillars here, and while you may be new here, you’ll soon learn that I conserve ideas like a madman.
Oh, and welcome to the community!
well DUH! Moving like you have is enough to throw off anyone. Any big change in routine is distracting–leaving a job, closing or opening a business, moving house, remodeling, dealing with illness or a family member’s illness, etc.
But writing doesn’t always happen in front of the keyboard or notepad. A writer is always writing inside their heads. You likely have a wealth of material piling up between the ol’ dendrons. This kind of post is exactly the thing to do–honest and relatable and warming up for the good things to come!
Duh, indeed! One of the things I’ll be sharing soon is about expectation management, because that’s exactly what was at play here. My expectations of what I’d do didn’t a) match reality, b) your expectations, and c) my own considered expectations. The ick about it all has been mostly around what I should’ve known – but you can’t know what there’s no way to know.
So, yeah, I’ve got a wealth of ideas to share. I’m just getting into the practice of sharing them again.
Thanks Charlie. For showing me (us) more of you. I, too, have been “processing underwater”… it’s harder to see it, but it’s still there. Happening. Nonetheless.
Sometimes, just being aware of it, is a way to honor the shift and change. Other times though, words are mightier than the sword. And just being aware isn’t enough. We must write it down to share the process more deeply with ourselves trusting that in doing so, we also connect with each other in a more meaningful way… through our humanness.
We all experience resistance. And it soothing to my own sore spot to see that I’m not alone in that.
Thanks for the gentle nudging. As always.
You probably felt it, Mynde, but I was thinking about you as I was writing this post. Rather than keep it to myself and work through it, I sensed that showing up for all of us would be a better way to light a candle than to kick it in high gear like it was easy.
I love it when my intuition matches the world, too. 🙂
Charlie–
I’m so glad that I saw this today. It’s so where I’m at right now. Do you know the Woody Allen quote that says “90% of life is showing up.” Thanks for showing up, being transparent and sharing a struggle that we all experience on a regular basis. It helps so much to know that I’m not alone.
Really looking forward to diggin’ into the freelancers guide, Charlie.
Welcome back!!
Glad to see you back, Charlie! I know you’ve had a lot going on, and a major transition. But also, wth has been up with June?? I don’t know if everybody has had as weird and difficult a June as I have or what. I hope July puts everything back to normal!
I tried to reply to your awesome email about getting rowdy and having more fun in our lives, but my internet broke down. >:( What I tried to say in my reply was, thank you for that reminder that we all need to cut loose every now and then!! Your email was VERY timely in my case, and it was a very welcome reminder!
As always, thanks for rocking the awesome!
I for one had a pretty rough 1st couple of weeks in June and MANY people I know were having meltdowns too. Something was defo in the air, Laurie! You’re not alone. And I have a feeling July is going to be AWESOME 😀
I have post like this often. They occasionally happen on Wednesdays. Not sure why that is?
It seems on Wednesday, the lizard likes to rear his ugly head and we go into a strong battle.
I will win the struggle, as you did.
Nice post – thanks for sharing your thoughts. The trick is making sure that publish button gets hit.
I think you have hit the nail on the head by this sentence.
“The truth of it is that blogging is just like anything else – the more you do it, the easier it is to do.”
Since I follow you on Twitter, I’ve seen how busy you’ve been! It seems like you’ve done ton of calls lately! As someone who has moved cross country in the past few years I can totally sympathize with how crazy life can be during the transition. Good luck to you and, just so you know, the productive flourishing community ain’t goin’ no where. We’ll stick around during this busy time even if you can’t post more than a sentence or two now and again. We’ll be here when you come back 😉
It’s good to have you back Charlie. While you haven’t been as publicly engaged, you’ve been doing a lot of epic shit behind the scenes.
The problem with that though is that often no one sees the epic shit you’re doing. So, you’ve got to balance the backend stuff with the energy you expend toward connecting and sharing in the short term.
This is something I’ve been noticing for myself as well. When I get too caught up in not doing enough writing, I find that it’s a lot harder to get back into the habit. And part of me starts to think that I “lost it” or that I don’t like writing as much as I used to. Then when I build the momentum and re-merge into the inertia field I realize that I just got out of practice.
Thanks for the reminder. It’s good to have you back Charlie.
Great post!
That reminds me…I should start writing some more on my blog 🙂